This specification relates to minimizing a software based keyboard on a mobile computing device.
More and more, people spend their time interacting with electronic devices—whether in the form of desktop computers, set-top television boxes, mobile devices such as smartphones, or other such devices. People like best those devices that are intuitive to use and whose interactions best meet their expectations regarding how machines should work. They interact with electronics through inputs and outputs from the devices, where the outputs generally are provided audibly and/or on a flat graphical display screen, and the inputs may occur via touch screens, joysticks, mice, four-directional keypads, and other such input mechanisms.
Fine distinctions in user interfaces can make a world of difference in a user's experience with a device. User interface options may be reduced for mobile devices, where full-sized keyboards are not available or no keyboards are available. In such situations, intuitive interaction may be at a premium. The importance of such interaction may be even more pronounced with mobile devices, where the user may need to interact with a device using a single hand or just a few fingers.